Florida Aquarium 2011

Almost 2 years ago, we took a trip to the Florida Aquarium.  Well, we decided to do the same thing again, while Jim had some time off of work over Christmas break.

It's always so neat to me to look back at the picture of our kids in the same places, but years apart, and see the changes they've gone through.


So here we go.  Some picture comparisons.

The aquarium at the entrance 2 years ago.

 

 

Currently...

The latest Boyer who wasn't even thought of 2 years prior.

2 years ago

Currently...

 

 

 

 

 

This place comes highly recommended for families with children. There's lots to see and lots of hands on.

This baby couldn't have been any better this day.  He's a trooper being drug around creation with his family.

On the way home, 2 years ago

Now, it's an iPad and Leapster and...

some good old fashioned brochures.

My new pal, Patty

Meet Patty.

She's my new little friend.

She's a beautiful, red, strong pressure washer and I love her being my friend.

Patty and I go way back.  You see, when I was dating Jim, back when I really should have been making the effort to impress him and his family, I met Patty and we clicked immediately.  Patty was brought out of the dusty barn, given some go-go juice and was ready to tackle the back patio at Jim's parent's house.  I don't believe I had ever run a pressure washer before, but it looked like fun and they let me start cleaning.  (I'm pretty sure this was one of the times when my in-laws realized I wasn't going to be the typical girl.)

The patio was not concrete.  It was brick with dirt in all the grooves.  So, big deal, you say?  Well, pressure washers have a tendency to make dirt fly.  Dirt that's attached to bricks and also dirt that's in between all the bricks.  Let's just say I needed safety goggles to protect my eyes from the spray and by the time I was done, I looked like I had stood behind a truck spinning out in the mud.  It made enough of an impression on my in-laws, they took pictures.  Who knows, maybe to build their case to Jim about never bringing me back. :)

Needless to say, I get a kick out of the pressure washing we do around the house and Jim knows that all he has to do is watch the kids and I'm busy for hours.  Curbs look like they've been painted white by the time I'm done.  The yucky, old paint on the driveway has felt the wrath of Kelle with some strong water heading it's way.  Any grime that's collected on the side of the house doesn't stand a chance.  It's design requires holding it like a machine gun so Jim has nicknamed me Rambo-ette when I start cleaning with it.

It's so bad, I get itchy to start cleaning other people's sidewalks that show years and years worth of grimy build up.  Like the nun who lives down the street.  Her sidewalk was hideous.  I was soooo tempted to roll Patty down there, knock on the nun's front door, and offer to clean her sidewalk in the name of the Lord.  No cost.  Just as a community service.  Jim would have thought I'd completely lost it, though.  So I didn't.  The nun must have been feeling my pressure washing vibes because she got her little plug-in pressure washer out and started cleaning the sidewalk herself within a month or so.  It was a dirty sidewalk, almost black, and I was a little sad I didn't get to clean it for her.

Emmanuel

Last year, it was that time again for the annual Christmas ballet, Emmanuel.  It's put on by the dance company Katherine currently attends, so she now knows some of the girls performing in it and is looking forward to performing on this exact stage in May.

These two cutie-patooties have made this trek since they were 2 and 3 years old.  It is so incredibly awesome to me that something as simple as a free ballet offered here in town has become a tradition that our girl can look forward to.

Miss E is one of Katherine's teachers.

 

And J thought it would be cool to get a thumbs up in the picture.  Shades of teenage years to come, I'm sure.  It's so cute, because the girls look a tad bit stiffer just because an older boy is in the picture.  Love it!

The next set of Emmanuel pictures will hopefully have Katherine in them, in costume. :)

Return from the dessert

MAN, I miss blogging!

There's something about putting thoughts down, with an occasional cute picture, that is very cathartic for me.

And I've missed it, TERRIBLY.

So, tonight, my wonderful husband encouraged me to blog.  Ooooh, thank you honey.

Just one tiny problem.  I haven't uploaded or edited pictures or videos from my 2 cameras in over 2 months.  Which translates into, major prep time before blogging.

So that's just what I did tonight.  I even started a list of topics I'm dying to write about.

I'd like to write about our new car, show pictures of Brandon's room, tell stories about our trips to Epcot, Hollywood Studios and The Florida Aquarium, chat about potty training success in a sweet 3-year-old boy that I'm sooooooo stinking proud of and a 10-month old that decided to bypass being a baby and fast-track the crawling, pulling up, cruising, waving and new teeth arena.  I'm excited and a bit scared of a Triathlon I'll be participating in (yes you heard me right) and I hope to write about my quirky new friend, Patty.  And I almost forgot the Christmas Pageant, more daddy-and-kids dancing, a great Monster Truck rally in our playroom, the Father-Daughter Dance, no room in our bed and numerous videos of kids being cute.


Everything is pretty much the same here.  Brandon's hair still sticks up, Nathan is fine-tuning his comedic skills and Katherine still loves ballet.  I did figure out during this hiatus that when the laundry pile makes it to the embarrassing number of 15 loads, something's gotta give.  Exercising on a regular basis also makes me tired and has forced me to be on a more regular sleep schedule.  All of those equal Yeah for basic house duties and good health; bad for blogging time which usually happens when everyone else is asleep.

I hope to get back to it all soon.  There's too much to skip out on.  Guess laundry will fall behind once more.  :)

I don't like leaving a post without any pictures, so here's the latest on the kiddos.

Blogging Haiku

Blogging frees the mind

Expression on E-paper

Writing time longed for

Maybe one day...